Uber has taken action to repair the faulty cars it was hiring in Singapore after one caught fire.
Uber had bought 1,000 Honda Vezel SUVs to rent in Singapore, knowing the cars had been recalled in April 2016.
The Wall Street Journal reported how in January, a hired faulty car caught on fire after a driver had dropped a passenger off.
“As soon as we learned of a Honda Vezel from the Lion City rental fleet catching fire we took swift action to fix the problem, in close coordination with Singapore’s land transport authority as well as technical experts,” said Uber.
“But we acknowledge we could have done more – and we have done so.”
Uber declined to say whether management knew the rented vehicles were defective. The spokesman said that all of the vehicles have now been repaired.
“We acknowledge we could have done more – and we have done so,” said the company in its statement. It said it had hired three experts “whose sole job is to ensure we are fully responsive to safety recalls.”
News of the faulty cars comes at a troubling time for the company, who have been hit by a string of controversies in recent months.
Chief executive Travis Kalanick resigned in earlier this year, due to the pressure from shareholders. His resignation followed a review of practices at the firm and scandals including complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination from employees.
Kalanick admitted he needed to “grow up” after a video of him swearing at an Uber driver went viral.
President Jeff Jones also stepped down in recent months.
“It is now clear… that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride-sharing business,” he said in a statement to Recode.